Proposed Method of Observation - Research Paper Example

Proposed Method of Observation The proposed research method to be applied is survey research. The survey research method is chosen since it allows one to quantitatively describe specific aspects of a given population by examining various variables. It can be used to analyze trends across time and to generally describe what exists in what amount and context. Further, survey research allows data to be subjectively collected from people. Also, survey research uses a portion of the population from which generalized findings can be obtained. The scope of study in survey research is defined by the independent and dependent variables. One of the advantages of survey research is that it is an efficient data collection tool. Survey research can also be used to collect information from very large samples of a population. The investment required to conduct survey research is minimal and they make it easy to draw generalizations from the data collected as applicable to the entire population. However, survey research makes it impossible to measure context and there is a possibility of measurement error. Also, the standardization of questions reduces the complexity and flexibility of the research process. The survey research will be administered a combination of in house visits by the interviewer and delivery by courier. The interviewer will visit some of management officers of select organizations and conduct an interview. Also, I will obtain permission to interview a sample of the clients who visit the premises to collect data from them. The interviews will consist of both verbal and written questions. A questionnaire will be prepared to be administered during the survey research. Some of the questions that will be included in the survey questionnaire are: 1. Do you have a customer relationship management system in your organization? 2. How does your customer relationship management system impact on the sales of your organization? 3. What is the role of customer relationship management in your organization? Survey research may be prone to errors due to bias. One of the biases is social desirability bias. This is the tendency of respondents to answer questions in a way that makes them seem desirable. To control against this bias, all the respondents will be guaranteed of privacy and the data collected will be checked for accuracy and consistency. Acquiescence bias results from the tendency of some respondents to answer questions in a generally positive manner. To control this bias, the questions will be structured in such a manner that they do not imply a positive connotation only. Finally, ordinal/position bias may arise due to positioning of the answers in the questionnaire. To avert this, the responses in the questionnaire will be placed in a non systematic manner to reduce positional influence on the respondent. Data Collection Plan (Sampling Technique) The research proposes a simple random sampling, a probability sampling in which each element has an equal probability of being selected. The sampling strategy is preferable because it eliminates bias and is representative of the population. It is highly representative if all subjects participate. Its results can therefore be generalized with validity. The random sampling approach will be applied in selecting organizations and members of each organization to participate in the research. Proposed Plan of Analysis In the present study, it is expected that there is a positive correlation between the having customer relationship management system and customer purchases. This is critical since theoretical knowledge shows that customer relationship management helps to increase the value of the customer to the organization by understanding their interests further. It is also expected that there is a difference between organizations that have customer relationship management and those that do not have. Specifically, it is expected that organizations which have customer relationship management record higher sales comp ared to those that do not have customer relationship management (Krasnikov, Jayachandra & Kumar, p. 70). The research uses statistical data analysis to evaluate the data. The main analyses test the hypotheses using a univariate and multivariate approach. Univariate analyses helps in looking only at one variable. Univariate analysis involves the use of graphs, frequency tables and descriptive statistics. The descriptive statistics aspect will be employed first to organize the collected data into intelligible information and provide a summary of the data collected. Univariate distributions will be used to analyze the collected data in terms of percentage and frequency distributions. This means that the number of times a variable’s attributes are observed in the sample chosen will be numerically represented. It should be noted that specific information relating to a variable such as mean, range, standard deviation and skewness can be obtained by the use of univariate analyses. This information is important in helping to comprehend the impact of each variable. On the other hand, multivariate analysis is necessary to show the relationship among the various variables in the research. The relationship among the variables is important in obtaining the wider picture on how the variables affect each other. Bivariate analysis will be employed to determine the empirical relationship between variables. For instance, the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable can be investigated for causality. Notably, the impact of the variables on each other help to show the real effect of a variable in a given conditions since variables do not exist in vacuums. Sample tables Table 1: Percentage distribution of role of customer relationship management in an organization Response Valid Percent Increase sales 60.00% Just record customer information 25.23% Varied uses 14. 77% Don’t know 10.00% Table 2: Impact of customer relationship management on purchasing power of customer Impact of Customer Relationship Management on sales Organization with CRM Organization without CRM Improved sales 85.00% 25.00% No change 15.00% 75.00% Ethical Considerations Research is a social venture and the observance of ethical and moral standards cannot be overemphasized. This is because research may involve a respondent having to divulge sensitive and personal information. Hence, it is upon the researcher to ensure that the information collected during research is not misused or does not fall into the wrong hands. Research plays a vital role in the progress of the society therefore its sanctity must be maintained at all costs. Ethical considerations are not optional since the information acquired during research may not be necessarily of public nature. The entire process of collecting, analyzing and distributing research information should be done in an ethical manner One of the ethical issues that must be considered during research is that a respondent should only participate in research under free will and consent. Voluntary participation by respondents is essential to give the research credibility. Informed consent implies that the respondent has to be made aware of the purpose of the study. This is important since a person may have ideological beliefs that limit their participation in some subjects hence it would be a violation of their beliefs if they are not sufficiently informed about the purpose of the study. Also, the researcher is under obligation to inform the respondent about the risks and benefits of participating in the research. For instance, it is important to inform the respondent if their information may be published in newspapers. In this research, I will make full disclosure to all the respondents and ask for their consent before any research commences. The other ethical consideration is respect for privacy and confidentiality. Information obtained during research may be sensitive and highly personal. This means that the respondent would be considerably affected in a negative if the information fell into the public domain. To guarantee privacy, it is necessary to make identification of individuals based on their responses impossible. In order to ensure confidentiality, the cover pages of questionnaires that contain the addresses and names of respondents will be destroyed. Also, the reporting of information from the research will be made in a way that does directly identity an individual. It is unethical to do harm in the name of research. Even if the respondent has consented to participate in the research, it is inappropriate for a researcher to engage in any action that knowingly harms or endangers the life of the respondent. In this context, harm on the respondent includes psychological stress, social stigma and financial losses. In this research, I will ensure that the use of information that is collected from the organization does not present it in a way that impacts negatively on their finances. Limitations of the study One of the potential limitations of this study is access. The information required to research the impact of customer relationship management is of a confidential and business oriented nature. Hence, it may be difficult for organizations to share their information on customer relationship management as this may imply revealing of their business secrets. Also, financial information may be inaccessible due to restrictions by regulatory bodies. The other limitations of this study lack of available and meaningful data. Some organizations may lack quality data that can be used to make inferences. For instance, a branch of an organization may have information about a client based on only that branch. Such information may not be sufficient to make conclusions about the purchasing habits of the client. Reliability is the quality of a measurement method that suggest that the same that would be obtained if the same phenomenon was observed repeatedly. In order to ensure that the data collected is reliable, the sample size will be increased to a substantial value. After the data has been collected, it will be tested and retested for consistency. On the other hand, validity is the extent to which a measure is aligned to the conventional meaning of the concept that it is intended to measure. A proper measure should be able to capture common sense and represent all aspects of a concept. The validity of this research will be enhanced by ensuring that some information is collected in a qualitative way. This will be done by conducting unstructured interviews with some respondents. The generalizability of this research is important since it is impossible to conduct a survey covering the entire population. This means that the information collected from the sample should be able to give a representative perspective of the entire population. The ability to generalize research findings in a conclusive way depends on the sample selection. Hence, in this research the sample is chosen in a random way. The organizations and personnel that will participate in the research are chosen as a random sample. The sample size will be of medium size so as to establish significant relationships from the data. Causal relationships occur when one variable causes a change in another variable. This means that changes in one variable are associated with changes in another variable thus making the variables to have a correlation. In this research, I believe that customer relationship management has a causal relationship with marketing success of an organization. Conclusion This study intends to investigate the impact of customer relationship management in relation to customer purchasing power in an organization. Previous studies based on customer relationship management have focused on the effects on service provision. The existing literature is rich on how the customer relationship management has helped in the delivery of customized and quality service to customers. This research intends to cover the relatively new ground on how the customer relationship management system can impact on the sales of an organization. It should be noted that there is sufficient evidence that customer relationship management helps in improving service delivery. Hence, it can be argued that with more information about the customer, it is possible to practice targeted marketing. The client is notified of products that they are most likely to be interested in based on their purchasing history. Imperatively, targeted marketing is much more effective as compared to the random fishing net form of mass marketing. Thus, there are high chances that the customers may appreciate the information on products that suit their preferences and be motivated to make purchases. This research seeks to explore the topic of customer relationship management in profit-oriented organizations. The proposed research question is, ‘Is there a significant relationship between application of customer relations management and organizations’ marketing success among medium sized organizations?’ This question is important since organizations need to make every effort to increase their sales. The information collected about clients in the customer relationship management systems is critical in unlocking their preferences and the other products that they most likely to purchase. Consumer behavior is a predictable phenomena and it is thus possible to predict purchasing patterns through the use customer relationship management. I intend to carry out this study through survey research. A sample will be selected randomly to represent the general population of the targeted medium size profit oriented organizations. Data will be collected through both written and verbal media. The research will mainly be quantitative but there will be portions of qualitative research so as to capture the situation on the ground effectively. Once the data has been collected, it will be analyzed using both univariate and multivariate techniques. The analyzed data will provide insight on how customer relationship management impacts on the sales of an organization. This will help to answer the research question and determine whether the variable of customer relationship management has a causality relationship with the marketing success of a company. Work Cited Krasnikov, Alexander, Jayachndra, Satish, and Kumar, V. “The impact of customer relationship management implementation on cost and profit efficiencies; Evidence from the U.S. commercial banking industry.” Journal of Marketing 73 (2009): 61- 76. Read More